Mule.



W. D. RUNDLETT.

MULE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 18. 1917.

Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Inn/amen William D. Rwndie at North Andover,

are used for spinning yarn and end for some purposes inaasesa.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented net. 12, rare.

Application filed July 18, 1917. Serial No. 181,206.

Tocllwfwm it may concern.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM D. Runn- "LE'ITT, a citizen of the United States, residing county of Essex, State =ef Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Mules, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to mules such as particularly to the drivlng connection between the driving mechanism and the drums or cylinders from which thespindles are rotated.

The invention has for its object to provide a driving connection of this character which will enable the drum or drums to be readily disconnected from the drivingmechanism. The main shaft of the driving fmechanism isremovable first, to enable repairs to be made querrtly required in connection with the usual backing off ratchet gear and the usual winding clutch gear; second, to enable required changes to be made in the speed ratios between the spindles and the drum or cylinder as when the size of the bobbins are changed or as when a change is made from winding bobbins to winding cops and vice versa. The driving mechanism with its shaft usually intervenes between two drums has to be made at one and at the other end for other purposes. This invention enables the desired disconnection and connection readily to be made between the driving mechanism and the drums or cylinders.

The invention also has for its object to provide a driving connection of this character which will secure a certain amount of flexibility. In an ordinary type of mule, the shaft of the driving mechanism is approximately two feet in length while the drums to which it is connected are between thirty-five to forty-five feet in length, and the transverse width of the carriage is p. relatively small. The entire carriage is operated backward and forward from its center portion. Owing to these facts, there is necessarily more or less of a flexion. Furthermore,misalinement is liable to occur between the drums and driving mechanism because the drums are adjustable toward and from the-spindles whi'ch may cause a misalineand the disconnection such as are not infre ment horizontally and the floors or track may be or may settle unevenly causing misalinement vertically. Such misalinements when they occur and such fiexion of the carriage places a great strain upon the driving mechanism and its shaft because the cylinders, owing to the fact that they are cylindrical and of considerable diameter, are substantially rigid. This invention provides in the driving connection a suflicient amount of flexibility to remove these strains from the driving mechanism and its shaft;

In order to give an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will now be described, after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Figure l of the drawings is a sectional view through the carriage of a mule showing one of the spindles and the driving'drum;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing in plan View the driving mechanism for the drums, said view being partially in section to show better the driving connection between the driving mechanism and one of the drums;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view through one end of the drum showing the driving connection between it and the driving shaft;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the driving connection disconnected from the drum;

Fig. 5 is a view of the head on the driv ing shaft;

Fig. 6 is a side view her;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 7-7, Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a view of the nut-lock;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of a portion of the head showing the rounded rim.

Inasmuch as my invention relates simply to the drums from which the spindles of a mule are operated and the driving connections therefor, I have not thought it necessary to illustrate herein the complete mule structure, but have contented myself with illustrating in the drawings a sufiicient portion of a mule merely to enable the invention to be understood.

I have shown at 1 the carriage of a mule (said carriage being shown'in section) in which the spindles 2 are journaled in usual manner and which is provided with. the

of the coupling mem- 'winding and counter-fallers, respectively,

which are brought into action at the proper time to assist in winding the spun yarn on the spindles and maintain it at the proper tension. The drum or cylinder 3 of a mule is usually made in sections situatedin alinement, and a suitable driving connection is mounted on the carriage between the adjacent ends of the drum sections and is coupled to said sections for driving the same. Such a driving connection is shown in Fig. 2 sufficiently for the purposes of this application, and it comprises a driving shaft 10 sustained in suitable bearings 11 on the carriage 1 and provided with one means for rotating it when the carriage is moving outwardly during the drawing and twisting operation, and with another mechanism for rotating it when the carriage is moving inwardly during the winding operation.

The driving shaft is driven during the spinning or drawing and twisting operation by means of a pulley 12 fast thereon and which is actuated by the usual rope drive. The shaft 10 isdriven during the winding operation from the usual winding chain drum'13 which has a gear 14 rigid there with which meshes with a wide-faced gear 15 which is slidably mounted on the shaft 10. This gear has a clutch member 16 rigid therewith which is adapted to be moved into engagement with a clutch member 17 fast on the shaft 10, thus clutching the gear 15 to the shaft. The gear 15 is moved longitudinally of the shaft to clutch it to or unclutch it from the clutch member 17 by means of an actuating lever 180 which is operated in usual manner.

The above-described form of driving mechanism is such as is commonly used in spinning mules and will, therefore, be understood by those skilled in the art without any'further explanation.

The shaft 10 is coupled tothe drum sections 3 by a novel coupling which is constructed to permit the shaft to be readily disconnected from the drum in case it is desired to changeone driving mechanism for another and which also has a certain amount of flexibility so that there will be no'binding action even though the drums and shaft are not inabsolute alinement,

The driving drums 3 areusually in the I form of a sheet metal cylinder which is supported at its ends on heads 18. .19-designa-tes a head whichis secured to the end of the shaft 10, said head being herein shown as keyed to the shaft, as shown at 20. This head 19 is in the form of a. disk and is provided with two openings 21 that are adapted to receive driving projections 22 that extend from a coupling member 23' which in turn is secured to the head 18. The coupling member 23 is shown in side view in Fig. 6 and it presents a rim portion 2 having a flange '25 extending inwardly therefrom, said flange having the projections 22 formed thereon. The coupling member 23 may be detachably secured to the head 18 in various ways. I have herein shown for this purpose two screws or bolts 26 which extend through apertures 27 formed in the projections 22 and which are screw-threaded intothe head of the projections 22 and'thus clamp the coupling member to the head. The head 18 is ra-bbeted at its edge, as shown at 30, thereby to form an annular shoulder, and the coupling member is made with the li 3' 31 which fits over the shoulder." By this 'means the coupling member 23 is rigidly but 18, as shown at 28. The heads 29 of these 7 bolts or screws bear against the outer face the curvature being'on the arc of a circle struck from the point 33 as a center. The object of this construction is-to permit a slight rocking movement of the shaft 10 relative to the drum without causing any binding of the parts. i I V The apertures 21 are slightly-larger than the driving projections 22 and there is thus provision for a certain amount of rocking motion between the driving head 19 and the coupling member 23 which prevents any.

binding even though the drum and the shaft are not in absolute axial alinement. The engagement of the periphery of the head 19-with the annular surface 32 of the couplingmember holds the coupling memaxially and prevents any lateral movement of one relative to the other.

If it is desired to disconnect the shaft 10 from the drum and then to remove either the shaft or the drum, the clamping screws 26 arefirst removed and then the: coupling her and head 19 in proper relative position 5 member 23 is shifted tothe right, F ig.'3,

sufliciently to withdrawthe lip 5 31 thereof from the shoulder 30, the relative shape of the parts19 and 23 being such astopermit of such movement. When the coupling member 23 is thus separated from the shoulder 30, the shaft 1O with the head 19 and coupling member thereonlcanbe removed without shifting the position ofthe' drum.

The head 19 is shown as being held on the shaft by means of a nut 34 which is screw-threaded to the reduced end 35 of the shaft. This nut is locked on the shaft'by means of a nut-lock 36, best. seen in Fig. 8. This nut-lock is provided with a central opening 37 of a size to sit over the nut,

the edge of the opening being formed on opposite sides with notches 38, 39 which are shaped to receive the corner of the nut 35. The nut-lock is provided with cars 40 having slots 41 therein to receive clamping screws 42 which are screwed into the head 19. In using the nut-lock the nut is first screwed up tight and then the nut-lock is placed over the nut so that two of the opposite corners of the nut will be engaged in either the notches 38 or 39 when the slots 41 are positioned over the screw-threaded apertures for the bolts 42. The bolts 42 are then inserted through the slots and screwed into the head 19, thus preventing the nut-lock from turning. By this means the nut 35 is securely locked in position.

The device herein illustrated is such that the shaft can be disconnected from the drum with great facility, as this operation involves simply removing the screws 26 and sliding the coupling member 23 axially. The device also has the advantage that it provides a flexible coupling which will transmit the rotation of the shaft 10 to the drum without putting the latter under any strain such as might be caused if the shaft and drum were rigid with each other.

I claim:

1. In a mule, the combination with .a carriage, of a plurality of spindles journaled therein, a drum rotatably mounted on the carriage and from which the spindles are driven, a drum-driving mechanism on the carriage including a driving shaft, and a flexible coupling between said shaft and drum.

2. In a mule, the combination with a carriage, of a plurality of spindles journaled therein, a drum rotatably mounted on the carriage and from which the spindles are driven, a drum-driving mechanism on the carriage including a driving shaft, and means for detachably but flexibly coupling said shaft and drum.

3. In a mule, the combination with a carriage having spindles journaled thereon, of a spindle-driving drum on the carriage, said drum having a head, a drumdriving Copies of mechanism on the carriage including a driving shaft, a head on said shaft, and a coupling member secured to the head of the drum and flexibly connected to the head on the shaft.

4. In a mule, the combination with a carriage having spindles journaled thereon, of a spindle-driving drum on the carriage, said drum having a head, a drum-driving mechanism on the carriage including a driving shaft, and a coupling member detachably secured to the drum and flexibly connected to the driving shaft.

5. In a mule, the combination with .a carriage having spindles journaled therein, of a spindle-driving drum on the carriage, said drum having a head, drum-driving mechanism on the carriage including a driving shaft, a circular head on said shaft provided with apertures, a coupling member rigid with the head of the drum and having driving projections which occupy said apertures and also provided with a positioning rim which encircles the head on the shaft.

6. In a mule, the combination with a carriage having spindles journaled thereon, of a spindle-driving drum rotatably mounted on the carriage, drum-driving mechanism including a driving shaft, a disk-like head on said driving shaft having its peripheral edge convexly curved in an axial direction and provided with openings, 2. coupling member rigidly secured to the drum and provided with driving projections occupying the openings of t e head and also pr0- vided with a positioning rim portion which encircles and contacts with the peripheral edge of said head.

7. In a mule, the combination with a carriage having spindles journaled thereon, of a spindle-driving drum rotatably mounted on the carriage, drum-driving mechanism including a driving shaft, a disk-like head on said driving shaft having its peripheral edge convexly curved in an axial direction and provided with openings, a coupling member detachably but rigidly secured to said drum and provided with driving projections occupying the openings of the head and also provided with a positioning rim portion which encircles and contacts with the peripheral edge of said head.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM D. RUNDLETT.

this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

